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White House wins court fight on e-mail disclosure
Headline Legal News |
2009/05/22 09:07
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A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the office that has records about millions of possibly missing e-mails from the Bush White House does not have to make them public.
The appeals court in Washington ruled that the White House Office of Administration is not an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act, allowing the White House to keep secret documents about an e-mail system that has been plagued with problems.
During its first term, the Bush White House failed to install electronic record-keeping for e-mail when it switched to a new system, resulting in millions of messages that could not be found. The Bush White House discovered the problem in 2005 and rejected a proposed solution. A group known as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued to get documents about the office's electronic record-keeping, including reports analyzing system problems, plans to find the missing e-mails and create an improved system and records of any retained messages. In response to court orders in the case, the White House disclosed that it has located nearly 3,500 pages of documents about problems with its e-mail system. But the Bush administration argued in this case for the first time that the office's records are not subject to public disclosure, even though it had responded to hundreds of other FOIA requests in the past decade and even included instructions on its Web site for filing them. |
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California voters soundly reject budget measures
Legal Business |
2009/05/20 09:07
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers are facing the arduous task of closing a state budget gap of more than $21 billion after ballot measures aimed at bolstering the state's finances were soundly defeated by voters.
Results for Tuesday's special election posted on the California's secretary of state's website showed more than 60 percent of voters rejected the five fiscal measures on the ballot.
A sixth measure barring pay increases for state officials amid deficits was approved by about 74 percent of the voters.
Surveys in recent weeks had found little support for the fiscal measures, and Schwarzenegger all but conceded defeat by joining President Obama in Washington on Tuesday for his announcement on auto emission rules instead of campaigning for the measures through election day. |
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2 convicted killers executed in Okla., Ala.
Headline Legal News |
2009/05/15 09:36
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A man convicted of battering his girlfriend's 8-year-old son and stuffing the body in a freezer was put to death Thursday in Oklahoma, while a man in Alabama was executed for fatally stabbing a mother of six.
Donald Lee Gilson, 48, proclaimed his innocence in the death of Shane Coffman before he was injected in Oklahoma with a lethal combination of drugs.
"I'm an innocent man but ... I get to go to heaven and I'll see Shane tonight," he said in his final statement. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. Gilson's parents, sister, a friend and a pastor witnessed the execution, and about a dozen members of the victim's family watched from behind a one-way glass. He became the second person to be executed this year in Oklahoma. In 1998, Gilson was convicted of first-degree murder in Shane's death in 1995. An autopsy showed fractures to the boy's skull, his collarbone, shoulder blades, ribs, legs and spine and a tooth missing from his jaw. Court records indicate that four other children who lived with Gilson and girlfriend Bertha Jean Coffman in a mobile home in Cleveland County showed abuse, and two of the children were emaciated. One of the children told investigators that Gilson beat the boy with a board and then placed him in a bathtub as punishment for going to the bathroom on a rug. |
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Key player in sports-bribery case appears in court
Headline Legal News |
2009/05/15 09:32
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Two former University of Toledo football players charged in a point-shaving scheme were arraigned in federal court Wednesday, including an ex-running back from Canada who is described as a key contact for Detroit-area gamblers.
Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Adam Cuomo of Hagersville, Ontario, and Quinton Broussard of Carrollton, Texas.
The FBI says Cuomo, 31, incriminated himself during an interview in December 2006. Authorities also have recordings of phone calls between him and Ghazi "Gary" Manni of Sterling Heights. In December 2005, the talk turned to how a reluctant basketball player had agreed to shave points. "Cuomo responded by saying that money will overcome all," FBI agent Stephen Ferrari said in a court document unsealed last month. Cuomo is charged with conspiring with Manni, Mitchell "Ed" Karam and others to fix the results of Toledo football and basketball games, from late 2004 through 2006. He met Manni through the owner of a phone shop in Toledo, Ohio, the FBI says. |
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ND Supreme Court upholds Internet provider probe
Court News |
2009/05/07 10:28
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North Dakota's Supreme Court says the attorney general may continue a probe into the marketing practices of an Internet service provider.
Simple.net Inc. of Mesa, Ariz., has tried to block investigations by North Dakota and other states. It contends the investigations are barred because of a settlement between the company and the Federal Trade Commission.
In a unanimous ruling, the North Dakota Supreme Court says the FTC agreement does not prevent the North Dakota attorney general from looking into Simple.net's business practices. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem got complaints about Simple.net because the company was sending out incentive checks. When customers cashed the checks, they started getting billed almost $20 a month for Internet services. Stenehjem says the sales pitch was misleading. |
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